Re: Close but no cigar

: : "Close but no cigar." I think it means "Sorry, but your answer
is wrong." But why a cigar? I'm wondering if cigars were carnival
prizes at one time.

: Yes, they were. For a right answer, the response is "Give that
man a cigar."

: I (in the U.S.) gather from reading that in the U.K. coconuts
are or were used the same way. Eric Partridge, "a Dictionary of
Catch Phrases," cites a saying "Give that gentleman a coconut."

Specifically, the carnival game was a "test of strength" where
a man (trying mightily to impress the little lady) would swing a
big mallet onto a lever that would launch a weighted projectile,
guided up a rope towards a firebell. IF he was mighty enough, he
would ring the bell, and win a cigar. There were gradations of failure,
too, with little slogans written on the board behind the rope: "Weakling"
at the bottom, to "Close" near the bell. There were (are?) two keys
to the carney gag* and its profitability: teenage boys would get
into competition, the result of testosterone poisoning, and (most
important) the cost to participate was more than the cost of the
cigar. *Gags was a carney word for such games, including Guess Your
Age/Weight, etc. I knew people who owned an amusement park, and
when interviewing the seasonal help, would automatically eliminate
anyone who used the word Gag, as it made them morally suspect. They
were probably correct in that assumption.